so let's say hypothetically, you were to win a wishlisted game here on steamgifts. 🌟congratulations!🌟 you excitedly rush to steam to enter your new game key and see this:

activation successful!
[game title] for beta testing

this just happened to me.
now i don't really know anything about keys being traded/sold that were meant for reviewers (if that's even what this is), or how long these keys hold up for. this game came out in february so it's still somewhat new. i'd hate if the key got revoked or something before i even got a chance to play it first.

personally, i don't have too much of a problem just marking it received, trying to play it asap and hoping it doesn't get revoked later on. after all, it was completely free obviously, and i'm never one to complain about the condition of free stuff. on the other hand, i know there are others on here whom are pretty adamant on receiving a proper key for giveaways they win, which i can understand as well. it doesn't exactly sit right with me if i knowingly let this slip by without at least making some kind of attempt to correct the situation.

i haven't had any previous contact with the person i got the key from, nor have i contacted them about this yet. i assume they know where the key came from, and if i were to ask them about it, i can't completely trust i would get an honest answer/opinion. i mean, i'm sure they would just say something like "nah, it's fine", otherwise i doubt they would've given the key away to begin with. of course, i could be wrong. i figured i'd try to get some input from the community since there's gotta be someone here with more experience and insight than me on this kind of thing. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

edit: if anybody finds this in the future and needs help then read this comment.

3 years ago*

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I would contact the giveaway creator.

3 years ago
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3 years ago
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thank you, this is exactly the kind of answer i was looking for. i had no idea that "for beta testing" was even common wording on game keys. i'll go ahead and mark it received.

3 years ago
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Would not hurt to check the game discussion hub. I won two games recently on Indiegala's raffle giveaway. Both when activated showed as beta keys. Nira - won 13th March and revoked about two weeks later, and Kaze and the Wild Masks - won 28th March and revoked early April. The discussion hub (for the game Kaze and the Wild Masks) included a post from the dev informing everyone that the closed Beta was finishing and keys would be revoked. Perhaps if the key is an open beta key it would be okay. Got nothing to lose by asking (which you are doing now :)
As doctorofjournalism states, you should contact the giveaway creator as well. I think that gifting beta keys is frowned upon on Steamgifts due to the fact that some will be revoked later on.

3 years ago
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As doctorofjournalism states, you should contact the giveaway creator as well. I think that gifting beta keys is frowned upon on Steamgifts due to the fact that some will be revoked later on.

Guidelines was changed recently to make this point more clear:

Beta keys which do not provide unrestricted access to the full game in the future, guest passes, demos, and coupons cannot be given away.

So as long as key activated beta version, that stays in library forever - it's fine.

And any key can be revoked later on. Best example is whole problem with OtakuBundle where developers were revoking whole batches of keys not marked as for beta testing, as they were not paid by bundle site.

3 years ago
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It depends on if it is really a beta key that is going to get revoked at some point or if the dev just labeled it a beta key for one reason or another and it is actually permanent (this is common). Keys bought while a game is in early access are often labeled beta even though you keep the game forever.

https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/elIQn/so-a-won-another-game-yay-me-but-it-was-a-beta-key
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/KBCcB/beta-key-should-i-mark-as-received-or-not
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/rE2hZ/won-a-full-released-game-but-the-key-said-the-game-is-for-beta-testing
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/fC93V/won-a-giveaway-but-received-a-beta-key-is-it-a-bannable-offence

3 years ago*
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Keys that are made before the game is in the store are labeled with "for beta testing" but are full game keys.
The bad thing are that Beta Keys that get often revoked after the timeframe for the beta test(s) are also labeled as the same.

From my experiences i never won a game with "for beta testing" that weren't a full game.
So i would say "if you don't seen exactly that game in a Beta freebie, at that day or 1-3 days before the GA creation day, then you shouldn't think it is only a Beta key that get later revoked and be happy about the win :o)"

3 years ago
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I would do exactly the same as you mentioned - play it asap, then if it gets revoked later, write a support ticket. You win some, you (might) lose some. Fingers crossed it's just the name.

3 years ago
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Contact giveaway creator, inform of the beta key.
He/She will either

  1. Give you a new key, a proper one hopefully
  2. Ask you to delete the giveaway - Which you may or may not agree to, the regs allow for both. If you agree, then that's that. if not, GA creator still have the burden of providing a proper key.
  3. Give you an explanation as ''It's marked as BETA but is full game'', hopefully with the added ''you can check developers comment on it [HERE)''
  4. Spin you a yarn and try to get away from it all, at which point you mark it as not ''Not Received''.

Here's the thing, by waiting and just hoping it's alright you yourself are in jeopardy of being punished for rule breaking. If you accept the key - click ''Received'' - on anything different than what was advertised you are helping GA creator to commit fraud against the point system, and for that you may receive a temp-ban. Yes; Fraud, even if not intended by either party. So contact GA creator, if answers aren't satisfactory, click the ''Not Received'', or contact a moderator if you are unsure.

3 years ago
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It's absolutely not a problem, a lot of key given by developper have this "for beta testing" appelation.
Normally the creator of the giveaway has had the game with the developer in order to make a giveaway and so there is really little chance that the key will ever be revoked.
For the moment mark the key as received and thank the giveaway creator.
You'll contact support if the key is ever deactivated but I don't think you'll need to do that.

And Iris and the giant is a great great game... Enjoy =) =)

3 years ago
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For the moment mark the key as received and thank the giveaway creator.
You'll contact support if the key is ever deactivated but I don't think you'll need to do that.

yeah that's exactly what i did, and what i plan on doing if it does get revoked later down the line.
i thanked him in my comment and made him aware that it said "for beta testing". he hasn't been online since then, so no response yet.
worth noting that he has one of those "pretty sure key works, if not, can i delete it?" type of comments in the description for the game.
i'm gonna put my faith down on assuming the key doesn't get revoked, and if it does i'll be able to contact him to delete the giveaway.
worse case scenario, i contact support.
worst case scenario, i have this thread to back up my claim in the future if it gets revoked, he won't delete it, support won't help me and someone is refusing to give me a key i won because i now have an unactivated win. that's a lot of ifs though.
hell, if he wants to be a super duper guy he may offer to go ahead and delete it anyway just to be safe. but i wouldn't ask that, nor expect it.

i am looking forward to this game though and i don't think it'll take me long to get around to playing it. it reminds me a lot of slay the spire, so if it plays anything like that, i'll love it.

3 years ago
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The replayability of iris and the giant is more limited than in Slay the spire,
The main reason being that the story plays a key role, in my opinion, in the game. It's simply beautiful and therefore you don't have the same feeling as in Slay the spire where the story is rather non-existent.
But playing it again loses some of its charm at the same time ^^
But for me iris has been a big hit recently... Enjoy =)

3 years ago
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I have seen a few on my keys already that tag while those keys were from bundles. I had such keys in the past from Indiegala, Fanatical even from Humble.

After the release, the game developers can request a limited amount of keys if their steam store revenue not high enough, so sometimes they use the prerelease keys beta keys, which they can ask for many, to send to bundle sites as they simply don't have enough after release keys to met the expected sale amount of the bundle.

These are never revoked, if a developer decides to go shady it is no matter what the activation name it is.
This activation name usually for the press game copies they send to YT-ers, now imagine what a 100k+ YT influencer will rage about a game if their game gets revoken, so you, me, and everyone are safe. Exceptions apply, but as I said already if dev is shady, then even other named activations are unsafe.

I wouldn't do anything, just keep the game, as I have done in the past with 2-3 giveaways with that activation in the past. You need to open a ticket only if the game gets removed, which is unlikely. I personally would stop do any giveaway if there would be a big campaign against these keys because any purchased key could have this tag, except A+ game keys.

3 years ago*
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As other people wrote all keys that are generated before game is released are marked as for beta testing. Even when they give you full game, and will never disappear from library.

You can try to ask creator about source of key. But if you get copy that unlocked full game, and will not automatically expire after x days - you should mark it as received.

In case key is revoked in few weeks or months:

  • write to giveaway creator about it - best place to do this is in giveaway comments, that way we will see something is wrong with the key after we open giveaway
  • creator may give you new key or ask for permission to delete giveaway - it is up to you if you want to allow support to delete giveaway
  • if you don't want giveaway to be deleted / creator does not respond - write ticket in other category with screenshot of revocation message. It will be forwarded to SuperModerator that can change feedback for giveaway.

When you decide to write ticket about feedback change - write about it in the giveaway comments as well. "Hi I had to write ticket to change feedback for this giveaway, as you did not respond to my previous message". It should prompt support member to check relevant ticket before issuing suspension for inactivated win.

Just don't write reports on creator in such situation - support members can't see them (only moderators and moderators+ can), so they will not be aware you had problem with giveaway. Esp if you just write report, and not leave any message in giveaway itself.

3 years ago
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thank you, i was really hoping i would get a mod's say on this, since y'all know what to do here better than anyone. your instructions are completely fair, and i'm glad there's a route to go to protect someone in my situation from receiving a suspension if a won key gets revoked.

i'm gonna go ahead and close the topic since i'd consider my problem as solved. i've also changed the title and linked your comment just in case somebody happens to search for this in the future.

3 years ago
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Closed 3 years ago by andreeeeeww.